Tag family

As for me and my house we shall eat gravy… every chance we get

Who doesn’t like gravy? Better yet, who doesn’t like finding a recipe that will stand the test of time in their family? My creamy country gravy recipe is one for the books.

I grew up with a mom who made gravy at every dinner meal. My parents didn’t have a lot of money so Mom’s thinking was that she needed to fill our bellies with as much as she could with the little that she had.

As a mom now myself, and with our every growing family, we eat the gravy. Usually on our deer steaks but we definitely eat it with biscuits and gravy.

And although I use whatever sausage I have on hand, deer breakfast sausage is my fave. Very little grease and ooh-la-la, that flavor. As I tell one of my little granddaughters it’s “yum to tum.”

I consider myself to be a good cook. Actually I consider myself to be a GREAT cook. But I have BEEN KNOWN to over season things once or twice. Maybe THREE times. Possibly FOUR, but no more than that, depending on who you ask.

We live and then we learn…sometimes the hard way

However, there might have been this one time that, ironically enough, it was opening morning of rifle season and we had a whole KITCHEN FULL of people. We had all just come in from our morning hunt and I was going to make biscuits and gravy for everyone.

A little back story. My father-in-law, who was there that morning also, had just had a heart attack the year before and had three, I believe, stints put in. He was watching his diet, sodium in particular.

That morning my cooking skills were on display because there were a couple of people that I didn’t really know that well. I was in performance mode.

We all know what happens to us when all eyes are on us, at least for me. I tried way to hard to impress and ended up, ACCIDENTALLY, putting too much salt in the gravy. I tried to mask it with more milk but that didn’t dilute it enough.

I served it like that hoping no one would notice. But they did, althought they did a REALLY great job of pretending it was edible. I watched each and every face as they took that first bite.

No one said a word, except for my father-in-law. He took that first bite and said, “Damn, Kelly! Are you trying to give me another heart attack? That gravy’s salty.” With that, everyone laughed. Even me. But even today, when I make this recipe, I hold that salt shaker in a little bit different position so that I don’t add too much.

For the record, I like salt.

My creamy country gravy recipe is really simple and one that you’re going to want to keep in your recipe arsenal. It’s so easy and has so few ingredients. Because it’s a favorite recipe in our family I wanted to share it with you.

Creamy Country Gravy Recipe

1/2 Cup  Canola Oil (I don’t think olive oil would work)

1/2 to 3/4 Cup  All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

4 Cups Milk

In a large skillet (because there will end up being so much) heat the oil over a medium heat. 

Carefully whisk in flour, pepper, and salt. I usually put my flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl separately and blend it first before adding it.

Stir until smooth, making sure it’s blended well and browned. 

Gradually stir in the milk and stir, stir, stir making sure there are no lumps forming.  It will bubble some but keep stirring until its the consistency that you desire and then take off the heat.

Moms really do always know best

One thing my mom taught me about making gravy, and believe it or not it was the ONLY thing she let me cook as a child (except macaroni and cheese out of the box) was that you have to stir CONTINUALLY. Because if you don’t it will clump up on the bottom of the skillet and be lumpy, not smooth.

I want to also say that when I make this recipe for biscuits and gravy I brown up some sausage before hand and add it in WHILE the gravy is being cooked.

So…listen to me, but especially listen to my mama. She put the “good” in being a good cook.

And that’s it!!! Perfect every time! Just remember to watch that salt!

It’s True That Families That Hunt Together Stay Together

Hunting, for many families is more like a holiday, a yearly tradition. It’s a time of gathering together with dads, mom, sons, daughters, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts and uncles, and although there are many common bonds between all of them, the one that has brought them all together during THIS particular time of year is “opening morning” of rifle season.

Although I am partial to bow hunting and all that that entails, I too, love to rifle hunt and my favorite part is opening morning.  In our house it’s a huge deal.  I mean a really big deal.  So big that every year, as the day gets closer, it’s all we prepare for.

Many a trip is made to the local Walmart for more ammo, more camo, and hand warmers.  It’s not rifle season until we’ve each went out and bought some cool new Under Armour Blaze Orange cap or the newest Under Armour beanie.   It’s tradition.  Yes it’s true and everyone here will agree that I have enough camo to completely dress a third world country but something about mentioning that rifle season is coming up and I instantly need a new fleece “something.”   It’s colder than bow season and by gollys I need to be warm sitting out in that blind.   That’s tradition too.

It’s always fun the night before opening morning because we, as a family, sit around the kitchen table plotting and mapping out who’s going where and with whom.  We make a plan and we STRATEGIZE just how the whole opening morning deal is going down.

I normally like to go out by myself because after only five years of hunting now I consider myself to be pretty experienced and I would rather sit in the blind alone.  I have a tendency to take A LOT of “gear” with me and really there is only enough room in my blind for me…and my “gear.”   By the way, during that time when we’re strategically figuring out just what the heck we’re doing the next morning we are also, all of us, going through and organizing our hunting bags and making sure we have everything in order before we head out.   I might add that I am one of the FEW, and I mean FEW, maybe one of the ONLY ONES, that has her “gear” organized.

I get made fun of on a daily basis for my OCD-ness but let one of my tribe lose a grunt call or a doe bleat and who do you think they come to for a spare?   You guessed it.   I usually have at least two of everything and when things can’t be found in the eleventh hour before opening morning, “I” become the Walmart.

After the plan is in place we’re usually so pumped we can’t even think about going to sleep.  It’s almost like Christmas morning for us.  I am totally serious when I say that I am so excited that I can’t sleep.  I have been known to, and actually I do it every year, lay my exact wardrobe out the night before, boots, beanie, everything because my plan is to get up early and relax.

I am the “early riser”, the “alarm clock”, the “merry sunshine” of opening morning.   I’ve always been a morning person but come mid November I am THEE “opening morning” morning person.   I spring out of bed BEFORE my alarm goes off, while everyone else is hitting the snooze on their cell phones repeatedly.  The house sounds like a medley of waterfalls and harps, retro funk, and Colt Ford.   As bad as that is to even imagine, it still does NOT wake anyone up.   Therefore, I’m always the one that makes sure we’re all up and getting around.

Opening morning is pretty standard though.   I have to enjoy a nice cup of coffee, relax, and get my head in the game before I get dressed in all my camo while my husband and the boys jump out of bed, throw their clothes on and hit the door running.   I have my clothes laid out in perfect order the night before, while they run around upon waking like chickens with their heads cut off searching in buckets and drawers for that ONE jacket or pair of gloves that hasn’t been seen all season.   I wake up chipper and excited and although they are excited as well, their demeanors are predominately sour and grouchy.

But once everyone is awake, dressed and our guns loaded, it’s all business and we’re ready to go out and get this party started.    We head in our different directions, whether it be the blind, a stand, or a climber and we sit there until a shooter comes by or we get a text saying that someone else got something and they need help.

 Either way,  I always welcome both and nothing compares to the excitement and memories opening morning brings and the tales we pack back when we return back to camp. Hunting as family is my favorite tradition.

I found this today and it really hit me in a place I’ve been struggling with lately.

Sometimes we have difficult situations and difficult people in our lives that we just don’t know WHAT or HOW to handle. Repeated attempts at reconciliation just end up at “brick wall status” and you’re left with frustration, anger, and most of all resentment.

But what if those people and those situations are meant to GROW you and not FRUSTRATE you? I am a firm believer that there are no happenstances, coincidences. Every moment and every person you meet God put in your path, for something. 

For me, I have to constantly remind myself that I haven’t been buried anywhere. God PLANTED me where he wanted me to do good works. I remember almost 11 years ago, when I met Wes for the first time, how it all transpired and if there was ever a “GOD BREATHED” event it was the moment God placed him in my life. I had been praying for God to bless me with a good Godly man to share my life with and about two weeks before I laid eyes on HIM I laid eyes on his flaming Dodge. I was at the intersection of AB and 160 at the light and, as I was sitting there, this black, flaming Dodge dooley goes through right in front of me. Now normally I would just sit there and wait for the light but this time that flaming Dodge caught my attention, and I remember thinking “WHO on earth would make payments on a truck that looked like THAT?” It was about two weeks later Wes magically appeared in my life at the restaurant I was working at. Although I had worked nights there for about a year, and he had frequented it during that time, our paths had never crossed. I’ll always know that he was God sent, which leads me to my point.

We don’t get to pick who God sends into our lives. He knows ahead of time who He needs to send to us. He has a plan for each person, just like YOU are a plan for someone else as well. God needs for us to learn and grow so that He can use us for His grand scheme. We will NEVER grow in comfort. We have to be taken out of that place and pushed to our limits relationally if we desire real growth.

If you’re dealing with a difficult situation or person in your life, and they are family, just know that God is working on you both. He brought you together for a purpose and sometimes we just have to be obedient to His Word and press on. God will reveal what He wants us to know WHEN it’s time. Keep on praying about it. Keep on loving. Keep on keeping on. 

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” – 2 Timothy 4:7

Sometimes we deal with difficult situations and difficult people and sometimes…we ARE the difficult people.

Love and Peace to You All,

Kelly 🙂

Although my husband’s railroad job is a huge sacrifice to our family, travelling around the country has afforded us the luxury of being able to not only see places we’d have never been able to see but also to meet folks we would have never otherwise crossed paths with. There’s something about connecting with people on a personal level that gets you to the heart of what’s really beating in this big, amazing country that we all call home.

In the past six years we’ve been from one end of the country to the other and one general consensus I’ve found is that good people are everywhere. Good, down-to-earth, hard working Americans grace not only our nation’s border states but also all the states in between. From the coal miners and steel workers in Pennsylvania and Northern Minnesota to those that we’ve talked to down in El Paso and Las Cruces that have come to our country legally that are in favor of “the wall.” Americans are good people and all of them have a story to tell…as do we all.

We’ve experienced the southern hospitality of the “Deep South”, hiked the Organ Mountains in New Mexico, climbed a waterfall in Wisconsin, and fished right on Lake Superior. We’ve shared conversations about God, Trump, hunting experiences, family, and the direction of our country. We’ve explored Charleston, South Carolina and swam the beaches in Savannah but in all our travels and experiences nothings compares to seeing the devastation of the flooding in America’s Heartland…our home.

RV life allows you to connect with people on a personal level and you really get to hear others’ stories. We’ve me so many families affected by the floods, hard working folks that have lost everything. Not only have they lost their homes and personal belongings, such as pictures and sentimental keepsakes but they’ve lost their livelihoods with their family farms and crops that they’re dependent on to pay their bills. Seeing these flood waters up close has affected me and the way I look at life. It can all be gone just that quick. We’ve had some hard days this spring with not only the continual rains but with tornadoes as well. It’s been tough for mid-westerners in particular.

In all the small towns, big cities, and campgrounds we’ve stayed in over the years I had to post this picture from the other day because it renewed my faith in our youth and the parenting that is done right which we sometimes fail to see.

These boys, who were from Mississippi and Georgia, would get up every morning around 6 a.m., with fishing pole in hand, and walk the banks of the small lake that was across from our campsite. Their eyes would barely be open and their hair smashed from just getting out of bed but there they’d be…fishing. It did my heart so much good to see these youngsters, between maybe 9 and 13, riding their bikes through the plethora of mud holes that laced the roads in the campground from all the rain. I saw little girls squatted down in the bathing suits, literally playing the mud, without a care at all of getting dirty. To be quite honest, it took me back to my own childhood. It was encouraging to witness kids be kids and not walking around with cell phones in their hands or playing on video games.

If we want to get our country and it’s citizens back to a place of goodness and solid foundation then we’ve got to start with our families…and that begins with our children. We’ve got to stop pawning them off on televisions, video games, and “stuff.” It’s imperative that we invest “time” in them and teach them the basics and life skills that were taught to us as children. There is no greater investment than the up and coming generations and it starts with us, right here right now. It’s not about Democrats or Republicans, black or white, or rich or poor…it’s about our kids and grandkids and raising a morally strong generation of up and coming adults.

It starts with us.

Love and Peace,

Kelly 🙂

Finding Your Strength During A Family Struggle

 

“Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and daughters, and your wives and home.” – Nehemiah 4:14

My heart is heavy this morning as I make my daily post because today is a day that I remember every year…my son’s birthday.   Because I am an advocate for using our lives to make a positive difference in the lives of others, I have to believe in using both the good stuff and the not so good stuff…those trials and tribulations that we all experience.

Funny that during hard times I don’t always think about others, more about myself.  But today my hope is that  God will use my pain to help another mom or dad who is struggling with being estranged from their grown child/children and maybe bring light to someone’s dark situation. I ask you to grab a hold of my hand, join forces with me, and let’s fight for our children together 🙂.

Although my battle has been ongoing for almost 4 years now, I try not to lose hope as hard as that is sometimes. God’s Word and fervent prayer really are key to any battle plan.

Luke 12:53 tells us that in the last days families will be divided.  Anybody else feel like we’re in the “last days” when you’re watching the news or scrolling through your social media accounts?  I definitely do.

“They will be divided, father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Although that looks bleak we don’t have to fear it because God is all knowing and He’s in control.

In Matthew 10:21 we’re told that “Brother will betray brother to death and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.” I don’t know about you but at times, although I am not actually dead, it sure feels like my heart has quit beating.  Our kids can sure rip our guts out.

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn…and I would heal them.” Do you ever feel like your child’s eyes are blinded to you and that they are looking at you through eyes of someone else? I know I do. But we must stay the course and pray like never before and learn God’s Word and those scriptures that we can use in battle. We are soldiers!!!

The armor of God can be found in Ephesians 6:10-17. I love the book of Ephesians!!!  So powerful and so much information in these few verses:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark work and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to, stand. Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

Fighting for our families is hard work and at times it seems like it’s for nothing. But it’s not for nothing…it’s for something…something BIG. The devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10) but Jesus comes to give us life abundant. Satan knows his time is limited so he’s going to wreak as much havoc as he can in the short time he’s on earth. That’s why we have to be alert and have a plan of battling him in place. Remember that we’re not fighting our children, we’re fighting against darkness. It helps if we can remember that and then use our weapons (armor of God) to fight the enemy successfully…with God’s Word. Memorize scripture and then rebuke the devil with those Words. Yell them out loud if you want to. My favorite part of the movie “War Room” is when the mom is yelling at the devil and rebuking him from her family! I love that part!!

Remember that souls are on the line. Satan wants as many as he can take with him when his time is up! And I believe it’s getting close! But God is a MIGHTY God and He’s tougher and more powerful than anything and He is ALMIGHTY!!! We all know how this story plays out!! Not good for the devil.

Let’s join together in prayer and please know that you are not alone in your struggles. Others are where you are and fighting the same fight. If you would like for me to pray for you personally, I would love to. Send me a message and I’ll get started on it immediately. Prayers and lots of love and hope for all reading this!!! We are warriors!!! Get that armor up!!!

*While typing the scriptures, my IG account and computer have shut down several times. This also happened  to me the other day while posting scriptures. That’s a sign to me that ol’ liar Satan is trying to keep me from getting this message out.  Go figure!

Prayers up!!!

Kelly

 

#nottodaysatan